Female mutilation law must be properly enforced, says minister

Tuesday 23 April 2013 09:50 BST

A Home Office minister has called for the law on female genital mutilation to be “properly enforced” and warned that the Government is “not happy” that no charges have ever been brought over the crime.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach told Parliament that ministers were “absolutely committed” to preventing “this abhorrent form of abuse” as peers heard that as many as 30,000 girls in Britain are at risk of being cut.

The minister said the “secretive nature of the crime” and the reluctance of victims to contact police were partly to blame for the lack of charges over a practice that was made illegal more than 30 years ago.

He also called for a “hearts and minds” campaign to convince those in affected communities that the abuse had no medical or religious justification and “should stop”.

But he said a new action plan being drawn up by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, could play a key role in bringing offenders to justice.

“The Government are not happy with a situation in which there have been no prosecutions,” the minister told the House of Lords.

“The law alone cannot eliminate this practice… but it needs to be properly enforced, of course.”

The crossbench peer Baroness Cox, who raised the issue by asking Lord Taylor how many victims there had been in Britain over the past decade, said research had shown that 30,000 girls were currently at risk and that 65,000 women had already been cut.

Lord Walton of Detchant, a former president of the General Medical Council, expressed concern that no doctor had been subject to disciplinary proceedings over the practice despite rules introduced in the Eighties allowing perpetrators to be sanctioned for gross professional misconduct.

Lord Taylor said this was “difficult to explain” and insisted that health and social services could play a “key role” in helping “to rid this country of this abuse”.

The minister also expressed concern about reports that Nimco Ali, a Somalian woman who has campaigned against genital mutilation after suffering it in childhood, had been threatened after speaking out and said more support was needed from communities to counter the “strong feelings” that the subject raised.

He added: “This is not an easy subject. It is a hearts and minds issue, so we have to influence these communities and encourage them to recognise that there is no religious or medical basis for this abuse of young people and it should stop.”